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Cheyenne Wyoming

Whenever I used to ponder getting streaks of gray or silver in my hair, I would always hear “Touch of Grey” by Grateful Dead playing on the radio. I took this as a sure sign that this was a right move for my life path, given the fact that my spirit is approximately thirty-five years older than my physical body. I would just feel more myself. There was only one dilemma: I’m a naturalist, and I’ve never stripped my hair of anything.

The day came, however, when I simply couldn’t wait another fifty years for natural silver to appear amongst my strands. I somehow mustered the courage to make an appointment at Teal House, not quite sure if I was really going to follow through with this year-long desire by the time I arrived the next day. Did stripping my hair of its natural color and then dousing it with some kind of metallic substance really resonate with my morals?

Oh well– sometimes, even if it is once per lifetime, a creative spirit must take a risk in the name of Creativity. At least I would be following my intuition.

So as I was sitting on the edge of the salon chair while the owner and sole stylist proceeded to brush bleach into “small” strands of hair and folded them into foil strips, I didn’t realize what I was in for. I didn’t realize, initially, that I wasn’t there to obtain “slivers of silver” and interrogate Rebecca Caswell about the origins of her self-owned salon decorated with her remodeled furniture. I was there to address the origins of all my irrational fears that have prevented me from achieving my most outrageous dreams… because she’d already lived a parallel experience relating to her own dreams.

I found it impossible to prevent myself from ranting to her all my worries about the million different directions my paths were leading me (i.e. my aspiration careers in the singing/songwriting field, becoming a best-selling author, and other side art gigs. I ranted about my loneliness, my feelings of disconnection, my anxiety about it all.

It wasn’t long before she exclaimed, “Look! You already have some natural gray coming in! You worried yourself gray– good job.” Discussing long-term visions with Rebecca shed some light on some of my own obstacles.

I told her of my greatest passions, of my travel plans, and how my travel plans would pave the way towards accomplishing my greatest passions. She listened and told me to stop asking for advice. I knew what it was I wanted to do; I was just taking on the worries of ten thousand people that weren’t my own. She was one of the few people who had ever been encouraging about this subject, while I’d let the rest talk me out of my own plans. When I accidentally blurted that my last resort was flipping a penny, I quickly realized how pathetic I held my own strength. I hadn’t been strong enough to see that I was lacking willpower in my own beliefs. I came to the epiphany, in that moment, that I was the only one who would stand up for any of my best ideas.

After opening my eyes to the horror of foil bundled up in my 28-inch-long hair, I was astonished to see I wasn’t in a typical hair salon anymore. I was in a life coach/psychology session!

“It’s so hard to be a creative person because the average joes aren’t going to get it,” she said, “so you have to say, ‘It’s not going to make sense to you, but it makes sense to me’ and then go do it anyway.”

She explained that the rebellious process of opening her own salon seemed an impractical task to most of her family and friends. She learned early on not to reveal her destiny’s secrets, because they wouldn’t make sense to the less creative types. Before she became licensed, her hair master/teacher had told her this was impossible; nobody does that! How many successful salons have only one stylist? According to her teacher, being employed by an already-successful salon was the only direction to go.

She had the resilience to tell her, “Well, that’s not my dream” and did it anyway.

Teal House (Beauty Lounge and Furniture Design) was conceived on an auspicious date: January 1st, 2014, and birthed on April 1st, 2014 (Rebecca’s birthday month; making this an extra auspicious date). It wasn’t easy locating an open studio space in which she would perform solo hair styling and furniture remodeling for the next two years… But her determination was never faltered. She always maintained faith of finding the right place for her dream business, and eventually, it came along.

“When it’s right, it just comes together. It’s hard to be patient, and it’s hard to be perfect.”

She found the perfect place here in Cheyenne, located on the intersection of Logan and 11th Street, only one month after she began her search.

“I don’t like small talk,” was not her first response to the question Why did you dream of opening your own hair salon without employees? but it came up in the same conversation and so we’ll leave it at that. It’s true; don’t you hate going to a hair salon and forcing small talk with the hairdresser even though you really want to know the details? When there are no other people to distract the conversation, this isn’t an issue.

Her passion for styling hair arises from the satisfaction of seeing transformation and change– a way in which she can express her creativity, similar to remodeling furniture. Her dreams for her business continue to grow; she would like to relocate to downtown where there is higher foot traffic. In addition to the salon and furniture design, she also dreams of combining these with a clothing boutique. Her vivid visions appear to be paving the way towards reality, as she is currently considering downtown storefronts that look exactly as she’d imagined.

Throughout this motivating four hour pep talk on creativity, I was inspired to prioritize my aspirations, beginning with the greatest ones first. I was advised to define my most important value in order to go about succeeding. At first I had no idea what I valued most. Freedom is the utmost value Rebecca has lived by, and this has lifted her to great heights. After thinking through, I acknowledge that freedom has always been on the top of my list; I’d just forgotten I’ve had it with me all along. Some of the last words of advice I was left with were:

“What you’re looking for isn’t in New Mexico or California or North Carolina… It’s within you. You already have everything you need.”

After contemplating this, I have harnessed my long-lost sense of power that I’ve held within me all these years. Somehow, I believe stripping my hair of some pigment simultaneously stripped away some of my fears so that I can now see clearly what was there all along. With a lighter color and layers that lift some weight off my head, I do feel lighter and more confident. (Who knew so much power could be directly related to highlights, red glasses, and green eyeshadow?)

Hair can be such a metaphor. However, I attribute my change in perspective mostly to the conversation and creative atmosphere of Teal House.

Oh, I never mentioned that? I never wrote about that, not even once? Huh. I really only have one excuse, and it’s a ridiculous one: FEAR. Fear of imperfection. Fear of rejection. Fear of SUCCESS.

This is my first attempt at recording, but my dreams are already starting to flow wild and free, all the way down to Texas. All the way east to North Carolina. All the way west to California. And of course, I’d have to go all the way north to Canada, too, since basically all of my favorite artists are native Canadians. The Be Good Tanyas, Kathleen Edwards, Frazey Ford…

What if I could open for one of my favorite artists? What if I could collaborate with some emerging artists of similar styles like Mariee Sioux, Lauren Shera, Catherine Feeny, or Laura Veirs? I’m learning something new everyday here in Cheyenne, Wyoming… I’m learning that there’s more to Planet Earth than the vast Plains. The Plains are a great place to gaze upon and wonder, and dream. They’re expansive enough to feel free, but they’re a little dry. Not to mention the 80mph gusts of wind we’ve had this week.

It’s as though the wind is bringing in energies to me from all directions, allowing my dreams to expand farther than the Plains. They’ve expanded to the Colorado mountain regions, where wildflowers spring up along fast-moving streams. They’ve expanded to the New Mexican desert, where half of my ancestry lies. They’ve expanded to oceans of every kind, although I’m a little hesitant to go there yet.

I want to bring my voice to all these places. I want to collaborate with as many great artists as possible; sing in local coffee shops, bars, venues of towns both small and large– I’m formulating a formal recording plan, and then a tour plan, hopefully all by this summer.

In the meantime, I want to bring my sound to you, you awesome writers and artists. I enjoy reading of your adventures, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading of mine. Now, I truly hope you enjoy hearing the sound of all my adventures on the Wyoming Plains.

As always, there will be more updates on my music to come as well as more writings of magic and synchronicity. You can also see proof of all my magical happenings and gigs on my Facebook page, Rosmarina Sol. (I’ll have to do another blog about how I chose this name and why I had to do it.) The basic translation, anyway, is Rosemary Sun– my two main sources of creativity.

Okay, so no more procrastination. It’s fun to write. It’s fun to record. It’s fun to share. Life can be so much more expansive than living in fear and hating the wind. EMBRACE the wind, embrace new change. FLY with the wind.